diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/errors.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/errors.rs
index 444873d1a..3c92ca829 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/errors.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/errors.rs
@@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ pub enum ParseError {
     #[diagnostic(code(nu::parser::variable_not_found), url(docsrs))]
     VariableNotFound(#[label = "variable not found"] Span),
 
+    #[error("Variable name not supported.")]
+    #[diagnostic(code(nu::parser::variable_not_valid), url(docsrs))]
+    VariableNotValid(#[label = "variable name can't contain spaces or quotes"] Span),
+
     #[error("Module not found.")]
     #[diagnostic(code(nu::parser::module_not_found), url(docsrs))]
     ModuleNotFound(#[label = "module not found"] Span),
diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
index 2f8f94597..e4eb9f489 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
@@ -1782,6 +1782,13 @@ pub fn parse_var_with_opt_type(
 ) -> (Expression, Option<ParseError>) {
     let bytes = working_set.get_span_contents(spans[*spans_idx]).to_vec();
 
+    if bytes.contains(&b' ') || bytes.contains(&b'"') || bytes.contains(&b'\'') {
+        return (
+            garbage(spans[*spans_idx]),
+            Some(ParseError::VariableNotValid(spans[*spans_idx])),
+        );
+    }
+
     if bytes.ends_with(b":") {
         // We end with colon, so the next span should be the type
         if *spans_idx + 1 < spans.len() {
diff --git a/src/tests.rs b/src/tests.rs
index 13c1f8a55..e0e2d1508 100644
--- a/src/tests.rs
+++ b/src/tests.rs
@@ -759,3 +759,8 @@ fn custom_switch4() -> TestResult {
         "bar",
     )
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn bad_var_name() -> TestResult {
+    fail_test(r#"let $"foo bar" = 4"#, "can't contain")
+}